Frank Roche was a star player under John Dubzinski at Arlington a decade ago.

He’s hoping to parlay that success into coaching at his alma mater.

The second-year mentor has the Spy Ponders off to a 2-0 start heading into tonight’s Middlesex League crossover contest against Stoneham. They certainly will get the Spartans attention after Arlington rolled to a 41-22 victory last year.

“We underestimated them last year and that was wrong on our part,” said Stoneham coach Bob Almeida. “(Frank) has done a really good job building in that program and that’s a good football team. They’ve got two good running backs, a good quarterback and a very big offensive line.”

Stoneham opened its season with a 27-14 win over Winthrop, a game in which Sean Kilty ran for three scores. Roche knows one of the keys to stopping the Spartans in controlling the running game, something easier said than done.

“Stoneham is a tough team every year,” Roche said. “Coach Almeida coaches them up well and they do things that are tough to adjust to.”

Stoneham-Arlington is just one of two good Middlesex League crossover contests, the other being Woburn at Arlington. Longtime Bay State Conference rivals Natick and Walpole meet in Walpole, Fairhaven travels to Old Rochester while North Attleboro hosts Taunton in a battle of unbeatens. Duxbury has won 13 straight since losing to Hanover and will get a chance to exact some revenge.

Other appealing nonleague matchups include St. John’s Prep at Central Catholic, Xaverian at Everett, Wellesley at Milford and Billerica at Westford Academy.

On Saturday, Bishop Fenwick coach David Woods looks to join the 200-win club when his Crusaders host Bishop Stang in a Catholic Central League contest.

The ISL opens this weekend and there are two juicy first-week matchups. Defending ISL-7 champion Belmont Hill travels to St. Sebastian’s, while Lawrence Academy hosts BB&N in a battle of traditional powers.